Minds are in limited supply, and each mind has a limited capacity for memes, and hence there is considerable competition among memes for entry in as many minds as possible.

YES we have a soul but it's made of lots of tiny robots

People are afraid of being more ignorant than their children―especially, apparantly, their daughters.

It is not so much that we, using our brains, spin our yarns, as that our brains, using yarns, spin us.

There's no polite way to say to somebody (religious followers) 'Do you realize you've wasted your life?

I should emphasize this, to keep well-meaning but misguided multiculturalists at bay: the theoretical entities in which these tribal people frankly believe — the gods and other spirits — don't exist. These people are mistaken, and you know it as well as I do. It is possible for highly intelligent people to have a very useful but mistaken theory, and we don't have to pretend otherwise in order to show respect for these people and their ways.

Reasons for declaring belief is not are not the same as reasons for believing in god.